My aim is to offer insights into some of the more subtle principles underpinning prints. The commentary is based on thirty-eight years of teaching and the prints and other collectables that I am focusing on are those which I have acquired over the years.
In the galleries of prints (accessed by clicking the links immediately below) I am also adding fresh images offered for sale. If you get lost in the maze of links, simply click the "home" button to return to the blog discussions.

Sunday, 28 August 2016

Piranesi’s etching of “Fragments of a pilaster and a column”

“Fragment of an
ornamental pilaster with detail of a column found on the Tiber Island”, 1768-78,
from the series, “Vasi, candelabri, cippi, sarcofagi ...” (Vases, candelabra,
grave stones, sarcophagi)

Wilton-Ely
(1994) advises: “The pilaster is in the Villa Medici; the column is in the Jenkins
Collection” (p. 1003).

Etching on
heavy laid paper attached to a washi archival support sheet

Size: (sheet)
70.4 x 48.6 cm; (plate) 66 x 41.5 cm

Lettered above
or beside each fragment with the title and details of the provenance or
ownership of the object. Lettered below the fragments with the dedication “All'Illustrissimo
Signor Erdmansdorff Cavaliere Sassone amatore e seguace delle belle arti in
atto d'Ossequio il Cavaliere Gio. Batt[ist]a Piranesi. D.D.D.”

Condition: strong,
well-inked impression. There are two large tears or either side of the central
fold of the sheet but these have been stabilised/mended with an archival
support sheet of fine washi paper (millennium quality). Beside these “mended” tears
the sheet is in excellent condition (i.e. there are no stains, holes or
foxing).

I am selling
this stunning etching by GB Piranesi—one of the most famous
printmakers of the 18th century—for AU$400 in total (currently US$302.36/EUR270.44/GBP230.36 at the
time of posting this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the
world.

If you are
interested in purchasing this superb, early impression, please contact me
(oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make
the payment easy.

Few printmakers
match the technical ability and sustained focus on portraying architectural
ruins like the great 18th century master, GB Piranesi. Not only was
he able to showcase the artefacts and views of ruins that he portrayed in a way
where each feature could be examined in minute detail, but Piranesi was also
able to portray them as if they were more than architectural renderings. To my
eyes, his images seem to have an inexplicable aura of strength and grandeur
about them. Arguably, this aura stems from the formal symmetry of his compositions,
the rich oily-black of the ink or the proportional balance between the amount
of drawing in the print to the area of untouched white paper—and the list of driving
attributes could go on and on.

Regarding this
particular print, Piranesi was a consummate seller of prints and even a trader
in antique artefacts as well. At the time that he executed this print, his
principal client, Clement XIII, had passed away in 1769 along with his Rezzonico
patronage and he needed to ensure that his finances were secure. To shore up his
financial standing, Piranesi embarked on an ethically questionable path: he
made the classical antiquities that he was selling more desirable to passing
foreigners by reconstructing them with odd fragments (i.e. he made them “better”
from his personal viewpoint). Most interesting to me, in terms of questionable
practices, he also dedicated his prints to potential clients in the hope that
on seeing their name festooned on a print, the line of dedication would induce
them to purchase the artefact depicted and—of course—an edition of the print
bearing their name. This print, for instance, is dedicated to the “Illustrious
Mr. Knight Erdmannsdorff Saxon lover and follower of Fine Arts …”

As a side note
regarding my personal fascination with Piranesi, I thought I might show a photo
of a sculpture (reproduced on the left face of the book) that I made for a fish
tank that once graced the end of my bed. This sculpture and the series of
drawings of it (shown on the right) were directly inspired by Piranesi’s reconstruction of ancient
ruins

For those who
may be interested in the brown colour of the drawings, I used lemon juice as an
ink which became a honey-brown once the drawings were heated.